Mar 28, 2015

Top 10 Tourist Attractions in New York City

New York, the largest city in the U.S., is an architectural marvel with plenty of historic monuments, magnificent buildings and countless dazzling skyscrapers. There are many tourist destinations which attracts millions of people across the world. Times Square, Central Park, Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, Fifth Avenue, Wall Street, Flatiron Building, United Nations Headquarters,  Chrysler Building,  Grand Central Terminal,  Rockefeller Center,  St. Patrick's Cathedral,  9/11 Memorial, World Trade Center. We have selected top 10 destinations for you

1 Statue of Liberty and Battery Park

This is the world’s largest statue which was built in 1886. This was a gift to the United States from France. It is a famous world symbol of freedom and one of the greatest American icons.
It is the world's largest statue and stands just less than 152 feet tall from the base to the torch, and weighs approximately 450,000 pounds.
Its base is an 11-pointed star measuring 150 feet [45 m] across, made of granite faced concrete;


It was dedicated by U.S. President Grover Cleveland and became a national monument in 1924.
"Liberty Enlightening the World" was a gift of friendship from the people of France to the United States to commemorate the 100th anniversary of American Independence.
In 1984, the statue was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is the world famous tour designation and approximately 4 Million people visit the statue each year
It is located on Liberty Island and a short boat ride is required to get to the statue. To see the statue from shore, Battery Park sits on the southern tip of Manhattan and affords great views of New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty.
From here visitors can catch the ferry to the statue and Ellis Island.

2. Central Park

Central Park is beautiful place in New York and can be called a playground of New Yorker’s not a concrete jungle. It was first public landscaped park in all of the United States. The park’s main entrance, the Grand Army Plaza (which has a sculpture of Abraham Lincoln, memorial arch, columns, two pavilions, and nine-foot tall eagles) was created to commemorate the Union victory in the Civil War.
The Park is spread over 843 acres of land and has many attractions within its borders.

There are more than 30,000 trees in Prospect Park and the oldest is 300 years old (Fallen Black Oak on Elephant Hill)
The park includes several lakes, theaters, ice rinks, fountains, tennis courts, baseball fields, many playgrounds and other facilities.
It is also home to the Central Park Zoo and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Especially during the weekends, when cars are not allowed into the park, Central Park is a welcome oasis in this hectic city.
Some of the places of note within this green space that visitors will probably be familiar with are Strawberry Fields, the Central Park Zoo, and the Lake, which is used for skating in winter, and paddling in summer.

3. Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, or "The Met" as it is commonly known, was founded in 1870.
The present Central Park location became the home of the Met in 1880 and began expanding by 1888. The original structure is now completely surrounded by expansions. The latest architectural plan, designed to make the museum more accessible, was initiated in 1971 and completed in 1991.

The museum started with a collection of 174 European paintings but is now home to more than 2,000 European paintings (12 to 19th centuries). It includes American decorative arts, arms and armor, costumes, Egyptian art, musical instruments, and photographs, along with much more. The Cloisters in northern Manhattan is a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art which focuses on the art and architecture of medieval Europe.

4. Fifth Avenue

Fifth Avenue is well known as an unrivaled shopping street in New York. Almost any upscale retailer has a prestigious store located at this street. Along Central Park Fifth Avenue becomes a more residential street with a large number of interesting museums.


it has long had a reputation as New York's premier shopping area. Many famous designers have their stores at here. Cartier, Tiffany, Bergdorf-Goodman, the famous Apple Store Fifth Avenue, and of course Saks Fifth Avenue, as well as many others line the posh avenue. Even none shoppers can enjoy a walk along Fifth Avenue.

5. Brooklyn Bridge

The world’s first steel constructed bridge was Brooklyn Bridge which was completed in 1883, The New York Bridge or Brooklyn Bridge and as the East River Bridge was opened for use on May 24, 1883. The bridge's cost when it was built was $15.1 million It spans the East River from Manhattan.

The bridge is an American landmark that has inspired generations of poets, songwriters and painters.
Engineer John Roebling conceived of the bridge in 1855 and worked out every detail from its two granite towers to its four suspended steel cables.
About 78,000 vehicles cross the nearby Manhattan Bridge every weekday. By comparison, averages of 144,000 vehicles cross the Brooklyn Bridge each weekday

6. Times Square

Formerly Long acre Square, Times Square was named in 1904 after the New York Times tower. The newspaper first posted current headlines along its famous moving sign, the world's first, in 1928. Long the heart of the Theater District, Times Square fell into decay during the Depression when many theaters shut down. The city cleaned up the area by inviting corporations such as Disney to move into the area. Today, Times Square has become a much safer place, day and night, with shopping, theaters and restaurants galore, not to mention its mammoth billboards.

The location has been used in numerous films, including Vanilla Sky when it is depicted as eerily quiet, and a post-apocalyptic version in I Am Legend. It is famous for its electric, neon and illuminated signs including Coca-Cola, Toshiba and the curved NASDAQ sign. In February this year, Times Square became smoke free.

7. Wall Street

Wall Street was originally called "de Waal Straat", named by the Dutch when New York was a Dutch Settlement known as New Amsterdam. It is believed that it was named Wall Street because of a wall built by the Dutch to protect the area from the British.

Stretching for 8 city blocks from Broadway to South Street is the world famous Wall Street. This street and the surrounding area are home to some of the most important exchanges in the world including the New York Stock Exchange, the NASDAQ, and the New York Mercantile Exchange.
 Also located nearby are the impressive Trinity Church and the Federal Reserve.
Wall Street and its surrounding financial district make New York the second in a list of the world's financial centers according to the Global Financial Centers Index.
Wall Street is a popular tourist attraction and it is common to see a large number of tourists walking around craning their necks looking up at the impressive skyscrapers

8. South Street Seaport


 The South Street Seaport was New York's port during the 19th century. Today, after restoration and development, the seaport is brimming with stores, restaurants, historic buildings and museums, the Fulton Fish Market, and views of the Brooklyn Bridge and the East River.
Historic ships dock alongside the piers and a nineteenth-century paddle wheeler offers harbor cruises. This National Register Historic District lies between the East River, the Brooklyn Bridge, Fletcher Alley, Pearl, and South Streets.

9. St Patrick's Cathedral

St. Patrick's Cathedral is one of New York's finest examples of Gothic Revival, with its massive bronze doors (weighing 20,000 lb each), white marble facade, 330 ft spires, the Great Organ, rose window, bronze baldachin, 2,400 seating capacity, and the statue of Pieta at the side of the Lady Chapel. With more than 5.5 million visitors annually, the cathedral is a major destination for believers and tourists alike. The building was erected in 1879 and has been carefully restored and maintained throughout its existence.

10. Empire State Building

More than any other building in the world, the Empire State Building embodies the ambition of humans to build towers that reach for the skies. The skyscraper is probably New York's best known building and can be seen on many postcards.

The Empire State Building also features in many films, most notably the classic film 'King Kong' from 1933. Even today, though the building has been stripped from its title of the world's tallest building, it is a symbol of New York itself, visited by more than three million people each year

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